Improvement in soap



UNITED STATES PA ENT Drrron IsRAEL:o.BA oH,oFoAMBnroeE,MAssAoEnsETrs IMPROVEMENTINSOAPL Specification forming part of Letters Patent No..116,008, dated J time 20, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ISRAEL D. BALGH, of

Cambridggin the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented air Improvement in Soaps; and I do hereby declare that the tollowing is a description of my in-' vention sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to practice it.

My invention relates'to an improvement in soaps, the improvement having referenceto the polishing or abrasive qualities of the soap,

as Well as to its cleansing and its detergent properties. 7 v

The improvement consists in combiningwith a soa made with an Y common soa in 'red- 1 b ients, a powder formed of calcined diatomac'iou's deposit, the structure of which is such as to give its finest particles an abrasive action, While its hardness and impalpability render a soap made with it as an ingredient peculiarly valuable in removing roughness and acid secretions from the skin, and in imparting a polish to surfaces rubbed with it or with suds made from it.

The diatomaceae I findas an earthy deposit, I

and when found it is of a soft spongy character, brownish in color, and containing a very small percentage of organic matter. But by burning orroasting the material it is reduced to an impalpable and perfectly white silicious powder, an (1 this is allthe preparation it needs before conrhinin g it with the soap ingredients.

The diatomaeious deposits are by some supposed to be of vegetable origin and by some to'be of an animal nature; but, Whatever their origin, they are formed of symmetrical and indestructible silicious skeletons, and are so fine that they do not injurevany fabric, While with the soap they will remove "stains and grease from clothes and oil and dirt from. the skin. 

